
Body of Secrets
Anatomy of the Ultra-Secret National Security Agency
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Narrated by:
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Paul Boehmer
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By:
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James Bamford
About this listen
The National Security Agency is the world's most powerful, most far-reaching espionage organization. Now with a new afterword describing the security lapses that preceded the attacks of September 11, 2001, Body of Secrets takes us to the inner sanctum of America's spy world. In the follow-up to his best-selling Puzzle Palace, James Bamford reveals the NSA's hidden role in the most volatile world events of the past, and its desperate scramble to meet the frightening challenges of today and tomorrow.
Here is a scrupulously documented account - much of which is based on unprecedented access to previously undisclosed documents - of the agency's tireless hunt for intelligence on enemies and allies alike. Body of Secrets is a riveting analysis of this most clandestine of agencies, a major work of history and investigative journalism.
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From Neil Sheehan, author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning classic A Bright Shining Lie, comes this long-awaited, magnificent epic. Here is the never-before-told story of the nuclear arms race that changed history - and of the visionary American Air Force officer Bernard Schriever, who led the high-stakes effort. A Fiery Peace in a Cold War is a masterly work about Schriever’s quests to prevent the Soviet Union from acquiring nuclear superiority, to penetrate and exploit space for America, and to build the first weapons meant to deter an atomic holocaust.
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Schriever rhymes with beaver.
- By John Gardner on 11-13-09
By: Neil Sheehan
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Red Star Rogue
- By: Kenneth Sewell, Clint Richmond
- Narrated by: Brian Emerson
- Length: 12 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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Early in 1968, a nuclear-armed Soviet submarine sank in the waters off Hawaii, hundreds of miles closer to American shores than it should have been. Compelling evidence strongly suggests that the sub sank while attempting to fire a nuclear missile.
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Twaddle. Just twaddle...
- By Scott on 10-13-14
By: Kenneth Sewell, and others
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Day of Deceit
- The Truth About FDR and Pearl Harbor
- By: Robert B. Stinnett
- Narrated by: Rafael Ferrer
- Length: 3 hrs and 14 mins
- Abridged
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This great question of Pearl Harbor - what did we know and when did we know it? - has been argued for years. But no investigator has ever been able to prove that foreknowledge of the attack existed at the highest levels. Until now.
If you like Day of Deceit, try Trapped at Pearl Harbor and vintage audio of FDR's Day of Infamy Speech.
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Another View Of An Historic Event To Consider
- By Kindle Customer on 03-26-13
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Command and Control
- Nuclear Weapons, the Damascus Accident, and the Illusion of Safety
- By: Eric Schlosser
- Narrated by: Scott Brick
- Length: 20 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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Famed investigative journalist Eric Schlosser digs deep to uncover secrets about the management of America's nuclear arsenal. A groundbreaking account of accidents, near misses, extraordinary heroism, and technological breakthroughs, Command and Control explores the dilemma that has existed since the dawn of the nuclear age: How do you deploy weapons of mass destruction without being destroyed by them? That question has never been resolved - and Schlosser reveals how the combination of human fallibility and technological complexity still poses a grave risk to mankind.
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A miracle that we escaped the Cold War alive....
- By A reader on 02-16-14
By: Eric Schlosser
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The Twilight War
- The Secret History of America's Thirty-Year Conflict with Iran
- By: David Crist
- Narrated by: Peter Berkrot
- Length: 25 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
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For the past three decades, the United States and Iran have been engaged in an unacknowledged secret war. This conflict has frustrated five American presidents, divided administrations, and repeatedly threatened to bring the two nations to the brink of open warfare. Drawing upon unparalleled access to senior officials and key documents of several US administrations, David Crist, a senior historian in the federal government, breaks new ground in virtually every section of The Twilight War.
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Most authoritative book on conflict on Iran, hands down.
- By David T on 07-14-19
By: David Crist
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The Watchers
- The Rise of America's Surveillance State
- By: Shane Harris
- Narrated by: Kirby Heyborne
- Length: 15 hrs
- Unabridged
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Performance
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Our surveillance state was born in the brain of Admiral John Poindexter in 1983. Poindexter, President Ronald Reagan's national security adviser, realized that the United States might have prevented the terrorist massacre of 241 Marines in Beirut if only intelligence agencies had been able to analyze in real time data they had on the attackers. Poindexter poured government know-how and funds into his dream---a system that would sift reams of data for signs of terrorist activity.
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Important context for privacy debate
- By Keefer on 09-17-11
By: Shane Harris
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Kill Chain
- The Rise of the High-Tech Assassins
- By: Andrew Cockburn
- Narrated by: Malcolm Hillgartner
- Length: 10 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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This essential, pause-resister narrative on the history of drone warfare by the acclaimed author of Rumsfeld explores how this practice emerged, who made it happen, and the real consequences of targeted killing.
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Introduction
- By Batman on 03-24-15
By: Andrew Cockburn
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The Dead Hand
- The Untold Story of the Cold War Arms Race and its Dangerous Legacy
- By: David E. Hoffman
- Narrated by: Bob Walter
- Length: 20 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
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The Dead Hand is the suspense-filled story of the people who sought to brake the speeding locomotive of the arms race, then rushed to secure the nuclear and biological weapons left behind by the collapse of the Soviet Union—a dangerous legacy that haunts us even today.The Cold War was an epoch of massive overkill.
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Eye opening
- By Brian on 11-16-10
By: David E. Hoffman
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The Weapon Wizards
- How Israel Became a High-Tech Military Superpower
- By: Yaakov Katz, Amir Bohbot
- Narrated by: Paul Boehmer
- Length: 9 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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From drones to satellites, missile defense systems to cyber warfare, Israel is leading the world when it comes to new technology being deployed on the modern battlefield. The Weapon Wizards shows how this tiny nation of 8,000,000 learned to adapt to the changes in warfare and in the defense industry and become the new prototype of a 21st century superpower, not in size, but rather in innovation and efficiency - and as a result of its long war experience.
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Good Overview, May Overstate Level of Innovation
- By JBF on 06-15-17
By: Yaakov Katz, and others
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Blind Man's Bluff
- The Untold Story of American Submarine Espionage
- By: Sherry Sontag, Christopher Drew
- Narrated by: George Wilson
- Length: 15 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
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No espionage missions have been kept more secret than those involving American submarines. Now, Blind Man's Bluff shows for the first time how the navy sent submarines wired with self-destruct charges into the heart of Soviet seas to tap crucial underwater telephone cables. It unveils how the navy's own negligence might have been responsible for the loss of the USS Scorpion, a submarine that disappeared, all hands lost, 30 years ago.
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best Cold War documentary...
- By Kojoukhinator Sr. on 11-15-17
By: Sherry Sontag, and others
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Good book, just not for me
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What listeners say about Body of Secrets
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- SteveAJR
- 05-09-23
Interesting
Could have done without the Bush basing at the end of the book. It was unnecessary
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- Amazon Customer
- 11-10-19
Long and Detailed
Maybe I'm crazy, but it seems like chunks of the book repeat (did they explain the USS Liberty twice?)
Regardless, I still enjoyed it. Where The Puzzle Palace was mostly a long explanation of technical capabilities and department personnel, this book covers the same stuff but gives the listener more missions/scenes to grab onto. It gives the events more of a "story" feel making things easier to understand
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1 person found this helpful
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- steve hages
- 07-14-18
great book for those interested in modern U.S. his
great book for those interested in modern US history and facets of our military and federal intelligence system coupled with our government.
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- el jefe
- 02-22-19
Bamford doing his thing and doing it well.
Revealing and disturbing. However, Mr. Boehmer (Narrator)... greatly respecting the skill it takes to read for audible. Please learn to pronounce place names correctly.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Salvator Marinello
- 08-09-23
5 For Propaganda/1 As An Expose
This book smells like ‘Operation Mockingbird.’ If you read this book and understand that the Deep State only wants you to know what they want you to know, the book is instructive as propaganda.
Certainly, in light of the actions of the intelligence community over the past 5-6 years, this book is really outdated, and some of the ridiculously quaint notions of what the NSA and other intelligence organizations are up to are laughable. Of particular note is the section dealing with the FISA court and all it represents.
If your expectation is that this book is some kind of expose, you will be disappointed AND/OR be misled into thinking that you’ve actually learned something from the deep, dark recesses of the NSA.
Read about ‘Operation Mockingbird,’ if you are unfamiliar to gain a greater perspective for what this book actually is.
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- M. Clouthier
- 10-01-24
History with absolute intrigue
I confess I like history; however, being able to tell true stories connected one to the other to the other all the while covering intelligence gathering since before the world wars was both educational and gripping. I learned a lot and I enjoyed it more.
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- Amazon Customer
- 01-08-19
Great story I think...HORRIBLE narrator!
It sounds like a computer is reading it. I could only take 10 mins of listening to it before I had to turn it off. It seems like a good story though...if you can bare a computer reading it back to you.
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3 people found this helpful
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- Carol Wood
- 03-09-20
James Bamford hitpiece
Just another liberal hit piece. It was interesting up until he started talking about Cuba, then it all falls apart. Not REALLY all about NSA, but a political diatribe. Stay away.
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1 person found this helpful